FINISHED:

Barshaw, Ruth McNally. (2007). Ellie McDoodle: Have pen will travel. New York: Bloomsbury.

[As suspected, this is kind of "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" for girls.]

STARTED:
Meyer, Stephenie. (2005). Twilight. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

[It's time...]

*

FINISHED:

Watson, Jude. (2009). Beyond the grave. New York: Scholastic.

[Is it me, or did this one have pretty obvious product placement in it? Praising the fact that the Gap sells t-shirts in a wide variety of colors? Are we REALLY supposed to be able to follow along and solve the clues with Amy and Dan? The two of them seem to be taking leaps in logic and connection - so how are we supposed to keep up? Sure, I figured out the code in the hieroglyphics on a few pages where the page numbers should be, but if I got the cards and all would it really all make some kind of sense??]

STARTED:
Barshaw, Ruth McNally. (2007). Ellie McDoodle: Have pen will travel. New York: Bloomsbury.

[Looks fun.]

*

FINISHED:

Stroud, Jonathan. (2009). Heroes of the valley. New York: Hyperion.

[LOVED. Recommending for the ACL 2009 Distinguished Books list.

Here's what I wrote for the review:

Many years ago, the twelve House heads of the valley banded together to fight off the evil, subterranean Trow. Now, many years later with the Trow at bay, Halli Sveinsson, a stubby and unattractive youth who happens to be in line for the head of his House, sets out to seek revenge against those from another House in the valley whom he witnessed murdering his uncle. Stroud, author of the celebrated Bartimeaus Trilogy (Hyperion, 2003-2006), has crafted an engaging adventure story brimming with action, intrigue, murder, legend, and mystery that borrows heavily from Viking lore. Surprisingly, there’s also a good amount of humor to be found here which serves to make the characters all the more human and believable. A romance bubbles between Halli and Aud, a young “princess” of her House, and Aud helps Halli to question all that he has been taught about the hero of his house, Svein – whose tales are told at the beginning of each chapter. As it turns out, all of the other Houses in the valley have similar stories about their heroes who participated in the conquering of the Trow, each claiming that their House’s hero was the greatest of them all. In addition, the very existence of the Trow is questioned; although no one has actually seen one in generations, everyone has just taken for granted that they exist based on lore. These plot points bring up the timely and important idea of questioning our heroes and what our elders have always told us to worship or fear. What (or who…) are the real demons that haunt us? And isn’t it true that we don’t have to live in the shadows of our heroes but all have the ability to be ones ourselves?]

STARTED:
Watson, Jude. (2009). Beyond the grave. New York: Scholastic.

[Only on Book #4?!? Not really sure why I keep reading these... I guess I just hope that there will be some big payoff in the end which will make it all worth it. If they weren't so short and light I would've given up a long time ago.]

*

FINISHED:

Rodgers, Mary. (1982). Summer switch. New York: Harper & Row.

[Entertaining, but nowhere near my favorite of hers. I was also surprised by the homophobic slurs throughout...]

STARTED:
Stroud, Jonathan. (2009). Heroes of the valley. New York: Hyperion.

[Read the first book in the Bartimaeus trilogy and thought that it was excellent (been meaning to read the other two... but they're a bit intimidating in their size...) - this one's been getting great reviews.]

*

FINISHED:

Augarde, Steve. (2009). Winter wood. New York: David Fickling Books.

[LOVE this series. As I tell everyone, these have that sense of being modern CLASSICS. Just wish that the US edition of this one was consistent with the first two titles which featured Augarde's woodcuts...]

STARTED:
Rodgers, Mary. (1982). Summer switch. New York: Harper & Row.

[Was AMAZED to see this one on the shelves at BPL. Though I knew that the original film of "Freaky Friday" ended with it looking like the father and son would switch bodies, I had no idea that there was an actual book written about it!]

*

FINISHED:

Collins, Suzanne. (2009). Catching fire. New York: Scholastic.

[GOOD STUFF. Probably shouldn't say any more about it until it's actually published...]

STARTED:
Augarde, Steve. (2009). Winter wood. New York: David Fickling Books.

[SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS ONE!! I'm telling you, the first two books in this trilogy are modern masterpieces and I can't wait to find out how it is all wrapped up.]

*

FINISHED:

Hunter, Erin. (2009). Seekers #3: Smoke Mountain. New York: HarperCollins.

[.]

STARTED:
Collins, Suzanne. (2009). Catching fire. New York: Scholastic.

[Got a hold of an ADVANCED READER'S COPY! It's good to be colleagues with veterans in the field...]

*

FINISHED:

Troup, Gary. (2006). Bad twin. New York: Hyperion.

[.]

STARTED:
Hunter, Erin. (2009). Seekers #3: Smoke Mountain. New York: HarperCollins.

[Number 3 - must read right away... she's got me hooked.]

*

FINISHED:

Collins, Suzanne. (2003). Gregor the Overlander. New York: Scholastic

[.]

STARTED:
Troup, Gary. (2006). Bad twin. New York: Hyperion.

[Read this one when it came out a few years ago - it's a novel supposedly written by an author who died on Oceanic flight 815. Reading it again, now that we've been through 5 seasons of "LOST," to see if it resonates any more than it did before.]

*

FINISHED:

Blundell, Judy. (2008). What I saw and how I lied. New York: Scholastic.

[.]

STARTED:
Collins, Suzanne. (2003). Gregor the Overlander. New York: Scholastic.

[Been wanting to read the first one in this series for quite awhile - even before I had heard of "The Hunger Games".]

*